Democratic hopefuls split on border, pot

By Kolten Parker :
June 26, 2012
: Updated: June 27, 2012 12:47am

Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Paul Sadler, left, and Grady Yarbrough pose for photos after their debate, Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at KERA-TV studios in Dallas. The debate will be broadcast on KERA-TV Channel 13 at 7:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, June 27, with an encore broadcast at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 1. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, David Woo) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; AP MEMBERS ONLY

Photo By AP

Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Paul Sadler, left, and Grady Yarbrough debate before their runoff matchup, Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at KERA-TV studios in Dallas. The debate will be broadcast on KERA-TV Channel 13 at 7:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, June 27, with an encore broadcast at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 1. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, David Woo) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; AP MEMBERS ONLY

Two underfunded U.S. Senate candidates battling for the Democratic Party's nomination squared off Tuesday in hopes of escaping the shadows of their GOP opponents and capturing a statewide victory for the first time since 1994.

Former state Rep. Paul Sadler and retired educator Grady Yarbrough, who said they have spent a combined $165,000 campaigning, agreed on many of the issues including same sex marriage, Social Security benefits and foreign policy. They split on border security and decriminalizing marijuana.

Sadler, a lawyer who served six terms in the Texas House, questioned his opponent's qualifications for a congressional seat.

“At the level of the United States Senate, experience is important,” Sadler said. “I don't think you can make the important choices until you have been (in a legislative body) and had to make those decisions and live with the consequences.”

Sadler, who served as the chair of the House Public Education Committee from 1995-2003, said the only other candidates, beside himself, that filed for the election and are qualified for the Senate are his Republican opponents.

Yarbrough, running in his fourth statewide election and second as a Democrat, disagreed and said he would endorse Sadler if defeated in the July 31 runoff.

“The same experience will lead to the same results, and look where it's gotten us,” Yarbrough responded. “You have to get some new players in the game if you want a different outcome.”

At one point in the debate the candidates were given the opportunity to ask the other a question. Yarbrough, 75, questioned Sadler's plan to create jobs if elected. Sadler said he did not have a question to ask his opponent.

“(Yarbrough) can ask me two,” he said and later added, “I really don't have anything to ask him.”

Immigration took a front seat in much of the conversation including border violence, drug laws and Monday's Supreme Court ruling on Arizona's immigration law.

Both candidates applauded the court's decision to repeal parts of Arizona's immigration law. Each also said the court should have struck down the entire bill, including the provision that requires residents to provide citizenship to police when questioned.

The candidates differed on border security, though they agreed it is a top priority for Texans. Yarbrough said the state and federal administration should assist the Mexican government in mitigating the violence on the border. He said the United States should reduce its use of illegal drugs and use “whatever method is at our disposal” to secure the border including, “I hate to refer to this, but the Berlin Wall was pretty effective.”

Sadler called the notion of a Berlin Wall “offensive.”

“I'm not a wall-builder. I don't think a fence works,” Sadler said. “A fence just forces people to go over, under or around.”

The candidates were divided on an issue that appears on the state Democratic Party's platform — decriminalizing and regulating marijuana.

Yarbrough supports the notion, citing medicinal use and discrimination to low-income citizens.

“There are things in everybody's platform they wish weren't there, and this is one of them,” Sadler said. “The people of this country are not ready for that.”

They agreed that means testing for Social Security is necessary and entertained the idea, although somewhat reluctantly, of increasing the eligible age.

Both support same-sex marriage and say the current state law prohibiting it is “discriminatory.”

Sadler, the favorite to take the Democratic nomination, received 35 percent of the primary vote but has had trouble raising money.

Yarbrough, who has never held public office, deploys the unorthodox strategy of not accepting campaign contributions. Despite his low-budget campaign — running primarily on retirement savings — he advanced to the July 31 runoff after receiving 25.8 percent of the Democratic primary vote on the ballot with three other candidates.

The winner of the July 31 runoff will face the survivor of the high-profile GOP race featuring Dewhurst and Cruz to fill U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's vacant seat.